The real stories from inside the F1 paddock

The harsh realities

Vitaly Petrov is a pay driver. A good one, but a pay driver nonetheless and if his friends in Russia do not deliver the cash for him to continue in F1 in 2013 then Caterham will take another driver who can provide what is needed. The second driver role is not that important. At the moment Vitaly does it well, but there is no room for sentiment in F1. If the money does not arrive there are others who can do the job. They may not be as good as Vitaly, but the standards are pretty high these days. The team needs a solid number one, with drive, passion and experience.

Despite a fair amount of waffle about his future, Heikki Kovalainen is still the obvious candidate. He will be lucky to get an offer from elsewhere. His speed and experience are of value to Caterham, but he has not outshone Petrov as much as one might have expected. There are other options out there for the ride if Heikki tries to pay hard ball, so he needs to have reasonable financial demands and be keen to stay where he is.

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@Joe,
Both Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi have recently remarked that they have signed or are about to sign up for drives for 2013.
Could they be exerting pressure for Petrov’s seat or do they have the money to do so?

It’s almost simpler to list the ones that don’t require funding. Both McLarens, both Ferraris, both Red Bulls, maybe one Sauber, one Caterham, one Lotus… Toro Rosso is a special case, and Force India doesn’t seem to have very many funds connected with anything it does…

arguably you could take out the Sauber as despite Kobayashi aparently not coming with money (Perez has Mexican money), Kobayashi opens Sauber up to the Japanese market very well and so does carry more financial weight even if it isn’t guarenteed.
I’d say
2x RBR
2x McLaren
2x Ferrari (although Alonso does bring money.. but it isn’t needed…..)
1x Lotus
2x Mercedes (although Schumacher is good for selling cars as well)
2x STR
1x FI
1x Caterham
1x Marussia
1x HRT (PDL doesn’t bring money does he? I can’t remember anything definitive like that… and it’s not the same as NK’s biggest bag of cash… but it would seem weird…)

Still 9/24 to 10/24 presuming PDL for financial isn’t most and in fact less than half. Given that the top teams spend several times what the baby teams spend in development that isn’t tooooooooo bad compared to what some say

And out of that, the drivers that you could argue are there for speed even if sponsorship was somehow banned tomorrow (not that it really could be)
2x Sauber (KK doesn’t bring money, Perez is Ferrari programme anyway)
1x FI (DR has Mercedes engine backing but has won DTM and speed)
1x Lotus (Grojean… GP2 champion, matched Kimi sometimes.. etc..)
1x Caterham (arguably Petrov as he has sometimes matched Kova… who is paid… most arguable on list though)
*1x HRT (PRD would keep his seat if money was banned and HRT somehow said afloat)

Yes, he’s sponsored by them to a degree & will likely spend his entire career in Mercedes-engined cars, but I don’t think he brings them their engine supply, since they had it before he joined and I doubt they want to give them away to *all* their running teams, what with McLaren guaranteed free power units until 2015(?).

I wonder how much of that is an attempt to create leverage for bargaining. Claiming to be close to signing somewhere else might motivate another team to have a more serious look at them and try to get them to sign there first…

Of course, I’d hope that they are telling the truth and not just spinning up stories in an attempt to make themselves sound more desirable than they actually are…

Lets put it this way: Why would anyone talk in public about a deal they’re close to signing? Is there any upside to doing this, if we presume there really is such deal in the offing? What could be the potential downside?

I’d love to see a Dutch driver compete in Formula 1, it’s been far too long since Verstappen (oh wait, there was Albers too… sort of anyway). But honestly, Van der Garde has no place in F1. The only reason he’ll get a seat is because he brings a whole load of money rather than talent. But money is money, and Caterham needs it. You’d just think there are better drivers out there who also have a lot of money.

I think the term “Pay Driver” is outdated now, in that even the top drivers bring a fair whack of cash to the table for their teams, yet they aren’t considered as a pay driver. What does say, Alsonso bring to Ferrari from Santander (caveat… I dont even know if Saantander sponsor him, just a “plucked out of thin air” example 🙂

Personally, I feel slightly disappointed with Kovalainen. Maybe I was just amazed by his win at Race of the Champions few years ago…somewhat unknown driver beating Schumi in Ferrari…
Obviously, winning F1 races requires something else….

That’s a gross misrepresentation of what Mark Smith said. He said next year’s car will be evolutionary, not revolutionary. Why? Well, because they feel they have more to gain by developing the existing design, gaining more understanding of it, and finding speed that way. This is not a sign of weakness, and it’s hardly uncommon in Formula 1. Indeed, even teams who choose not to bring new bits to their cars (such as Mercedes a couple of years ago) find that they are able to make the car faster through nothing more than refining the set-up. I’d suggest you need to understand the sport a bit more before making such sweeping statements.

I agree with you. It seems that you’re responding to an attitude of ” support winners, winning is all that matters & despise anyone who does not win”.

I’ve found that is difficult to change this mindset, because it’s something that is easy to do & doesn’t require a great deal of thought to adopt.

Where I live, a huge majority of people support Manchester United. Some of them admit that the reason is because ManU have (had) more money than any other team, which they admire, so could more easily win all the trophies. In their minds, smaller teams are, in football language, scum.

I will continue to watch the progress of some of the smaller Teams, in the hope that they can ‘unlap themselves’.

I was at the WEC race at the weekend and was very impressed with the whole organisational aspect and the general accessibility of the WEC for fans. We got close to some of the cars, saw a couple of drivers and were able to mix it with a few mechanics at one point who were happy to talk about the cars Added to that the cost was impressivley low.

My friends and I who travel to a couple of F1 races each year agreed that F1 seems to be wrapped up in its own arrogance and that’s what seems to be hurting the experience for those at races and home viewers. Not to mention the extortionately high prices at certain races. Not only that, I think it creates barriers for casual fans and fans of other forms of motorsport who would otherwise engage with the sport.

It also leads to true talent not often getting a fair chance to break into the sport

Being able to come close to a car or interact with people who are part of the teams may be great for your personally, but it’s also an indication of the lack of success of a series.

Think about it, if you can get close to the cars, that’s only because there are no cameras whose view you could block. Formula 1 is unapproachable because the couple of hundred people on the other side of the fence are putting on a show not (just) for you, but for hundreds of millions of people around the world. And they (collectively) pay more than you, which means they get the better spot.

Besides that, if you can talk to team members, it’s because they’re not doing their job properly. You wouldn’t expect to walk up to a office worker or someone putting tyres on new cars at the end of the production line and chat with them, would you? You’re there for leisure, but it’s their workplace. And their work usually doesn’t involve interaction with the public.

Ermmm… no. Formula One is unapproachable to the paying public in a way that no other motor sport series would ever consider – and has been for 30 years. While that’s an accepted fact, it doesn’t particularly make other series look bad – quite the reverse in fact.

You could be right in most of what you say, but in fact in some car factories the public can have a tour.

I have spent a lot of my time inside car factories in one way or another, but as a pure tourist I did once take the tour at VW Wolfsberg.

It was probably 15 years ago but I found it fascinating in ways that non engineers may not. Be warned the Wolfsberg factory is 1Km long and you will walk a good deal of it. (Unless you can swing either a VIP ride or a disabled ride in one of their tour buggies) I note that tours are listed for many other motor factories as well now.

Amazing, a great fan friendly initiative and it gets criticised. A good technician (the unsung heros of motorsport) will have allowed time for final preparations and for attending to problems arising from the warm up session. No problems arising so time to move onto the PR work, be friendly, speak to the spectators and generate some good will.

If a mechanic is on the clock, there is always something better to do than to chat to the public. Take a torque-meter and check your screws and/or fittings once more, for example. Or pick a piece of cloth and clean the car, or your tools. There is always something. And when they’re talking to the public, they’re neglecting their job.

Lets turn it around, how would you react if instead of catering to the public, the PR people started spending time playing with screws, tools or replacement parts in the garage? How do you like the great fan service of making sure the cars are properly put together and will not fall apart on their way to the end of the pit lane?

What you are suggesting is to trust the employees with how much of their paid time they actually spent working for the team. Would your employer trust you to do that? Would you trust your employees with that?

I can’t speak to what goes on in the UK. At the risk of sounding like a provincial Yank chasing several internationally irrelevant series, stateside, most of the series allow close access to the cars. And not purely due to low interest. NASCAR is an exception but in that case, drivers are readily available to the public. At an IndyCar race access to the paddock costs extra, but the extra fee is modest. Same for the NHRA – there is a Thunder Alley pass that is not expensive that provides very close access. The ALMS allows for a grid walk which is usually jammed. Imagine Bernie’s reaction to seeing the riff-raff on the grid.

Teams can only sign drivers that are available. McLaren would not have planned for Alonso leaving after just a single season, and they had to make the best they could of the situation. Heikki probably represented their best bet at the time.

Caterham’s Test Driver Giedo van der Garde was rumoured to have €6 million for a 2011 race seat however ended with the 3rd driver and racing in GP2 for Catherham.
Giedo is the son-in-law of Marcel Boekhoorn (estimated current net worth stands at €1.3 billion. source wikipedia).
I would not be surprised if he gets promoted.

History showed that Russian sponsors are not the most reliable source of income. Ask Paul Stoddart and I believe that the team formerly known as Renault also never got the promised amount from their Russian friends.

Wonder which major sponsor Caterham will announce in Belgium.
Wish them the best, most serious solid newcomer in a long, long time.

I think Kovalainen has utterly buried Petrov. Only the Alonso – Massa battle has been more one-sided this season. Kovalainen has shone for Caterham, particularly last year. I recall your Grand Prix + review of 2011 where you rated Kovalainen a perfect 10 and his racing this year has been to the same standard.

The rumours of a drive with Ferrari are possibly a bit far-fetched, but the Sauber speculation is mounting. I think Caterham would be lucky to hang on to Heikki, and if they do fail to retain his services, they will likely go backwards with no benchmark to weigh up against.

With Petrov essentially admitting that he is finished, Caterham had better pray that they get someone with real talent before the silly season wraps up tightly after the Hamilton and Schumacher decisions are made.

Considering their continuing upward slope in terms of laptime relative to the fastest car, I think Caterham are doing more than a decent job. Working in a tiny factory with no wind tunnel won’t have helped. And you clearly weren’t watching the Monaco and European grands prix, where they were knocking on the door of points before other drivers (J. Button and D. Ricciardo) decided to go dodgem racing with Kovalainen and Petrov. Consider also that they are regularly two seconds a lap faster than the teams behind them.

They also suffer from the almost bulletproof reliability of modern F1 cars. In the 90s (the last time any brand-new teams entered the sport), cars used to drop out all the time through reliability problems, and the circuits had gravel traps instead of car parks at the side of the track which meant that mistakes were punished. The result was that the small teams could score points, and that was at a time when only the top six would score. Times have changed, and the team does not have the resources to out-develop those ahead of them. Well, perhaps not until they have Leafield up and running at full tilt. The teams they want to compete with have all been in existence for at least fifteen years (in the case of Red Bull, which started life as Stewart in 1997); Toro Rosso (Minardi) has been around since 1985, Sauber since 1993 (and for many more years before that in sportscar racing), and Williams since the mid 70s. We’d all love for them to break through, but it might take time. There’s nothing wrong with waiting for success, which is what someone would have done well to drill into the head of a certain ex-Lotus employee.

Out of Caterham’s drivers in lower formulas its Alexander Rossi (In formula Renault 3.5) who seems most likely to step up to the F1 team if Petrov had to leave. If so would this American driver have the sponsors to allow him to enter F1. Caterham have G.E. as a sponsor so would this US company pressure them towards a US driver.

I read the quotes from Petrov’s manager – albeit in a GMM article so god only knows if they were accurate. She seems to feel that failure to hire Petrov would in effect constitute a snub of Russia and suggest F1 doesn’t want Russian drivers. People need to realise that teams don’t hire countries, they hire drivers. Most hire drivers who bring money. If Petrov was kicking everyone’s arse every weekend he’d have no trouble. As it is a bright future in sportscars no doubt awaits.

The quotes I read said that she and he were both fed up with not earning any money themselves and that an F1 driver was almost impossible to sell to sponsors in Russia. Furthermore if he didn’t start earning decent money in F1 she would be taking him away from F1 to other more lucrative areas. So there!

Joe, thank you for taking the time to post this. I love your knowledge of the sport and the drivers etc. I also appreciate greatly that you are willing to engage with peopl that reply to your posts. I missed you during your holiday – thank you for givIng your time to blog, when you must be so busy.

Joe – it would be great to hear your views on some of the more experienced mid/lower pack drivers. Say Heikki and Timo for example.

Some would argue that they didn’t take full advantage of their earlier opportunities, however it could be argued that it was too much pressure too early. Even SebVet and Fernando had a few years with lower teams.

Logically, it is these sorts of drivers who should be in contention for the 2nd seat at Ferrari, however it seems like the paddock has decided that it won’t happen.

Veering a bit off topic, but related… reading a couple of new things: Tony F video about the new digs + their need to get the tenths to move up the grid; and then reading about Lewis’s new contract. What I think would be amazing is for LH to join Caterham.

Moss’s reputation was built on achievements in excess of the resources available. Schumacher’s (at least the credit I give him) is taking a persistently also-ran Ferrari and making it dominant for years.

Does Lewis want more money and trophies on the mantel? Or does he want to move to a higher league of achievement?

Keith
I think it would be career suicide for LH to go to Caterham. Whilst I respect the team for getting to where it is, LH is still in his prime and would easily command a ride in one of the top teams before needing to join a mid/lower-pack team. It would have to be a Hill-esque departure that would lead to him joining Caterham (or imagine HRT!). Thats if he even wanted to stay in F1, given there would be other categories available too.

Why would Hamilton move from a championship-capable team to one who has never earned a point in F1? If you were him, a former World Champion, who looks visibly upset when he doesn’t win, would you want to race for 16th or 15th place?